ann14084 — Announcement

ESO Staff Share 2015 Breakthrough Prize

11 November 2014

ESO staff members are part of two teams that have been awarded the 2015 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for their discovery of the accelerating expansion of the Universe.

On 9 November 2014 the 2015 Breakthrough Prize [1] in Fundamental Physics was awarded to the Supernova Cosmology Project and the High-z Supernova Project. The scientists are honoured “for the most unexpected discovery that the expansion of the Universe is accelerating, rather than slowing as had been long assumed”. This discovery was the climactic moment of twentieth-century cosmology, and has mapped the terrain for the current era of exploration.

The award ceremony was hosted by Seth MacFarlane and also featured Kate Beckinsale, Benedict Cumberbatch, Cameron Diaz, Jon Hamm and Eddie Redmayne as presenters. The ceremony will be televised globally on 22 November 2014 on BBC World News.

Notes

[1] The annual Breakthrough Prizes in fundamental physics, life sciences and mathematics, are sponsored by Google co-founder Sergey Brin and his wife, Anne Wojcicki, a founder of the genetics company 23andMe; Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma and his wife, Cathy Zhang; Russian entrepreneur and venture capitalist Yuri Milner and his wife, Julia; and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan. The goal is to celebrate scientists and generate excitement about the pursuit of science as a career.